[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 173 (Thursday, September 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54885-54887]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-21947]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 
U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: 2013 Survey of Income and Program Participation, Event 
History Calendar Field Test.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0957.
    Form Number(s): SIPP-EHC 105(L)2013-Director's Letter; SIPP-EHC-
105(L)(SP) 2013--Director's Letter Spanish; SIPP-EHC 4006A Brochure; 
SIPP/CAPI Automated Instrument.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Burden Hours: 6,300.
    Number of Respondents: 6,300.
    Average Hours per Response: 1 hour.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau requests authorization from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct the 2013 Survey of 
Income and Program Participation Event History Calendar (SIPP-EHC) 
Field Test.
    The Census Bureau's SIPP-EHC computer-assisted personal 
interviewing (CAPI) will use an Event History Calendar (EHC) 
interviewing method and a 12-month, calendar-year reference period in 
place of the current SIPP questionnaire approach that uses a sliding 4-
month reference period. The Census Bureau also plans to use Computer 
Assisted Recorded Interview (CARI) technology for a sample of the 
respondents during the 2013 SIPP-EHC. The Census Bureau is re-
engineering the SIPP to accomplish several goals

[[Page 54886]]

including re-engineering the collection instrument and processing 
system, development of the EHC in the instrument, use of the 
administrative records data where feasible, and increased stakeholder 
interaction.
    The main objective of the SIPP has been, and continues to be, to 
provide accurate and comprehensive information about the income and 
program participation of individuals and households in the United 
States. The survey's mission is to provide a nationally representative 
sample for evaluating: (1) Annual and sub-annual income dynamics, (2) 
movements into and out of government transfer programs, (3) family and 
social context of individuals and households, and (4) interactions 
among these items. A major use of the SIPP has been to evaluate the use 
of and eligibility for government programs and to analyze the impacts 
of modifications to those programs. The re-engineering of SIPP pursues 
these objectives in the context of several goals including cost 
reduction, improved accuracy, increased relevance and timeliness, 
reduced burden on respondents, and increased accessibility. The 2013 
SIPP-EHC will collect detailed information on cash and non-cash income 
(including participation in government transfer programs) once per 
year.
    A key component of the re-engineering process involves the proposed 
shift from the every-four-month data collection schedule of traditional 
SIPP to an annual data collection schedule for the re-engineered 
survey. To accomplish this shift with minimal impact on data quality, 
the Census Bureau proposes employing the use of an event history 
calendar to gather SIPP data. The 2013 SIPP-EHC will re-interview 
respondents interviewed in 2012, collecting data for the previous 
calendar year as the reference period. The content of the 2013 SIPP-EHC 
will closely match that of the 2012 SIPP-EHC. The SIPP-EHC design does 
not contain freestanding topical modules as in the current production 
SIPP instrument; however, a portion of traditional SIPP topical module 
content is integrated into the main body of the 2013 SIPP-EHC 
interview. The EHC allows recording dates of events and spells of 
coverage and should provide measures of monthly transitions of program 
receipt and coverage, labor force transitions, health insurance 
transitions, and others. The 2013 SIPP-EHC will be the second test 
using dependent data in conjunction with calendar methods to reduce 
burden and improve quality, and the first opportunity to re-engage 
respondents who either refused to participate or could not be located 
for the 2012 SIPP-EHC wave 2 interviews. Further, the 2013 SIPP-EHC 
will be the final dry-run prior to administration of the SIPP-EHC as 
the production SIPP instrument in early CY 2014.
    During the field period for the 2012 SIPP-EHC, a separate sample 
was interviewed using the same instrument, but with Computer Assisted 
Recorded Interview (CARI) technology implemented. For a sample of the 
respondents during the 2013 SIPP-EHC audio recordings will again be 
used. The Census Bureau is using CARI during data collection to capture 
audio along with screen images and data values for responses during the 
computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI). With the respondent's 
consent, a portion of each interview is recorded unobtrusively and both 
the sound file and screen images are returned with the response data to 
a central location for coding. The CARI technology will again be used 
in conjunction with the 2013 SIPP-EHC. Portions of both the 2012 wave 2 
SIPP-EHC and 2012 wave 1 SIPP-EHC (CARI) samples will be recorded as 
part of the 2013 SIPP-EHC administration. In 2012 the CARI respondents 
were first interviewed and recorded as a separate sample utilizing a 
CARI enabled version of the 2012 SIPP-EHC instrument. In 2013, the CARI 
sample will be combined with the SIPP-EHC sample, which will test the 
capability of the SIPP-EHC instrument to perform multiple paths during 
the same interview period. In 2013, the SIPP-EHC CARI sample is a Wave 
2 interview, while the 2012 SIPP-EHC sample will be in its third wave. 
The CARI recordings will not be limited to only the previously recorded 
cases; instead, the sample being recorded in 2013 will contain both 
previously recorded cases and some Wave 3 SIPP-EHC cases. This is a 
critical evaluation, as evidence from external surveys (Panel Study of 
Income Dynamics--PSID) suggests that simply asking the consent question 
could be associated with a significant increase in survey length. 
External researchers at the Institute for Social Research at the 
University of Michigan suspect that improved FR adherence to protocol 
is one of the sources for the longer interviews. Additionally, we need 
information on the association between CARI, interview length, and 
interview quality.
    As a quality assurance tool, the recorded portions of the interview 
allow quality assurance analysts to evaluate the likelihood that the 
exchange between the field representative and respondent is authentic 
and follows critical survey protocol as defined by the sponsor and 
based on best practices. The 2013 SIPP-EHC field test instrument will 
utilize the CARI Interactive Data Access System (CARI System), an 
innovative, integrated, multifaceted monitoring system that features a 
configurable web-based interface for behavior coding, quality 
assurance, and coaching. This system assists in coding interviews for 
measuring question and interviewer performance and the interaction 
between interviewers and respondents.
    The 2013 SIPP-EHC Field Test will be conducted in all 6 Census 
Regional Offices from January through March of 2013. Approximately 
3,000 households are expected to be interviewed for the 2013 SIPP-EHC 
field test, which is comprised of approximately 2,000 cases returning 
for a third wave from the 2012 SIPP-EHC and approximately 1,000 cases 
returning for a second wave from the 2012 SIPP-EHC CARI. We estimate 
that each household contains 2.1 people aged 15 and above, yielding 
approximately 6,300 person-level interviews in the field test. 
Interviews take one hour on average. The 2013 SIPP-EHC will not be 
using the re-contact experiment previously used in the 2012 SIPP-EHC.
    The 2013 SIPP-EHC Field Test will continue the EHC methodology 
implemented in the 2012 Field Test instrument. The EHC is intended to 
help respondents recall information in a more natural 
``autobiographical'' manner by using life events as triggers to recall 
other economic events. For example, a residence change can in many 
cases occur contemporaneously with a change in employment. The entire 
process of compiling the calendar focuses, by its nature, on 
consistency and sequential order of events, and attempts to correct for 
otherwise missing data. For example, unemployed respondents may 
undertake a lengthy job search before becoming employed.
    The 2013 SIPP-EHC Field Test instrument will be evaluated in 
several domains including field implementation issues and data 
comparability vis-[agrave]-vis the 2008 SIPP Panel and administrative 
records. Distributional characteristics such as the percent of persons 
receiving TANF, Food Stamps, Medicare, who are working, who are 
enrolled in school, or who have health insurance coverage reported in 
the EHC will be compared to the same distributions from the 2008 SIPP 
Panel. The primary focus will be to examine the quality of data that 
the new instrument yields for low-income programs relative to the 
current SIPP and other administrative sources. The

[[Page 54887]]

field test sample is focused in low-income areas in order to increase 
the ``hit rate'' of households likely to participate in government 
programs.
    Results from the 2010-2013 Field Tests and the 2008 SIPP Panel will 
be used to inform final decisions regarding the design, content, and 
implementation of the SIPP-EHC for its production beginning in 2014.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: One time.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Section 182.
    OMB Desk Officer: Brian Harris-Kojetin, (202) 395-7314.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Jennifer Jessup, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0336, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 
[email protected]).
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202-395-7245) 
or email ([email protected]).

    Dated: August 31, 2012.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2012-21947 Filed 9-5-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P